


Home Sweet Home

by comfycozysweaters



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Langst, Post Nuclear War, earth is a wasteland
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-27 22:42:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16228799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/comfycozysweaters/pseuds/comfycozysweaters
Summary: The paladins return to Earth only to find out they were too late.





	Home Sweet Home

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote a happy home coming fic so here’s a not happy one.

You ever miss something or someone so badly that once you see them and learn that they’ve changed to be unrecognizable you feel a sick pit in your stomach? A mix of being grateful at seeing them again and mourning for who or what they had been.   
  
Multiply that by ten and you have the Paladins of Voltron returning home.    
  
Even from orbit it looked dead. Nothing but brown. Not even clouds in the atmosphere. No oceans. No cities.    
  
Just sand. A world wide wasteland. Radiation levels off the charts and no signs of life.    
  
Ruins of ruins.    
  
At first, they held hope. After all the Garrison looked no different from space, a desert that stretched far and wide. But the area of desert was too much. It never ended. A trip around the Earth set Keith on edge, Hunk’s hope dwindling, Pidge swallowing bile, Lance desperately coming up with reason after reason, theory after theory on survivors, and Shiro... Shiro was quiet.   
  
Resigned.   
  
He never expected to see Earth after being taken by the Galra so long ago so even this was more than he had ever hoped for.   
  
Was it really hope though? If they found no survivors, no life sustaining areas, was hope appropriate? He left a planet thriving in the new age of technology, returned to an empty husk.   
  
Pidge found a working space station. The dead met them, all evidence leading to oxygen deprivation and starvation. They grabbed the logs from the ship and watched with the others as nukes fired from one cost the the next, lighting the Earth on fire and leaving nothing in its wake. A catastrophic failure causing the first wave and retaliation before the information made it down the pipe line, the next.   
  
Eyes were wide, mouths agape. A swear, a sobbed prayer.   
  
Pidge shut down. Took in the information and relied on logic and facts to keep her on her feet. “I’m fine,” she’d say, “but the Lions’ cloaking needs an update and we have to touch down to-to recharge.”   
  
Allura, Coran, and Rommel gave them their space. The princess and her advisor knew what it was like to lose your planet, your people. This seemed worse, however. Altea went down with a fight, a chance against an outside force. Earth just... shriveled up quietly. No chance for survival. No cause except human folly.   
  
Keith reacted with anger to no one’s surprise. In private, he sank to his knees, hollow inside, eyes distant. He may never have felt truly at home after his father passed but that didn’t lessen the sting of loss. Lashing out didn’t make him feel any better but what else could he do? How else could he beat the empty chasm in his chest where home had been? He punched the wall and it dented under his Galra shifted fist. Black grumbled and Keith apologized. He felt her in his mind, wrapping around him comfortingly, trying to protect him.    
  
He at least had Shiro with him. Shiro who looked through the screen with dull eyes and a set jaw. Who tried to rally the team, but what could they rally behind? This entire time they’d been fighting to save and preserve Earth, to return victorious and safe. All of that for naught. Instead of the Galra Empire or the war lords of the new order it was infighting that ended the human race.   
  
What the hell was the point then?   
  
Hunk was surprisingly strong through this. He mourned in giant heaving sobs, in reminiscing about his home and family, but once that initial burst of despair passed leaving him shaken and bereft he straightened and offered a plan. Send a drone to test the air and see if they could survive a trip to the ground. Offered a way to mourn and say their goodbyes. Perhaps later he’d have his massive break down, but for now the team needed him to be their rock. When he was done, he knew they’d support him as he was doing now.   
  
Lance’s com was shut off. No one could reach him. They saw Red and that was enough for now.    
  
No one saw him until they found a spot to land. Luckily their time in space and exposure to quintessence made the radiation a nonissue.    
  
Lance stumbled out of his lion and threw off his helmet. He walked, ignoring the cries for him to stay put, to talk to his team. He walked and walked and walked until he was standing in the center of what used to be the Garrison. Only the foundation stood, some fortified wall broken down and crumbling, a buggy that looked half buried.    
  
He removed his armor and rolled the flight suit down to tie around his waist leaving his torso covered in only a thin tank top. Dog tags from their time in the Garrison stuck to his skin as he set to dig out the buggy. When Keith approached him, they shared a look and set to work in silence. Pidge joined them. Lance told her to find solar panels. Hunk scrounged some MREs and when the time came helped to lift the back of the buggy and push until it settled on solid ground. Shiro helped Pidge attach the solar panels as Lance, Keith, and Hunk searched the ruins. There wasn’t much to salvage.    
  
When the buggy was ready, Lance slipped into the driver’s seat and waited for everyone to pile in before setting out towards the city. Hunk plugged in his tablet and in no time they were singing at the top of their lungs to the music as if this were a regular road trip. This moment of levity lifted their spirits, got them smiling and laughing again, and when Lance’s voice broke and tears fell, no one mentioned it.   
  
The city was a ghost town. More surviving structures than the Garrison but everything felt dead and hollowed out. They passed the welcome sign hanging and blasted to hell, then the inner city schools with apartments and homes that were already dilapidated left in ruin. Office buildings, sculptures, businesses and restaurants they all knew. Then came the residential area.   
  
They drove past Hunk’s neighborhood, a memory now with nothing but flattened sand. Past Lance’s home with its large backyard where the family would gather for barbecues and parties. The road that led to the ocean, now a dried up wasteland.   
  
Finally Lance stopped on the edge of what used to be a cliff overseeing the ocean. He sat there working his jaw and clenching his fists on the steering wheel as the others moved to sit outside and watch the Sunset. Keith remained with Lance in the buggy. He moved his hand to rest over Lance’s and Lance desperately clung to it. They were quiet until everyone piled in to grab blankets and set up camp.    
  
As they all slept, Lance sat on the hood of the car and stared into the distance.    
  
“Not ready to sleep?” Shiro stood by the buggy with his hands in the pocket of one of the jackets they’d found, looking out over the valley.    
  
Lance shook his head.    
  
He felt the car dip as Shiro hopped up next to him. “I understand. This... this wasn’t what anyone expected.” A moment of silence where Lance glanced over to see Shiro staring at their teammates curled close together on the ground. “We needed this, Lance. I hope it helped you as much as it has them.” His eyes turned to Lance and Lance felt pinned in place by the intensity. Shiro reached out and held his hand. “I’m not going to lie and say it’ll be alright, because nothing about this is alright, but we’ll manage. You’ll manage.”   
  
Clearly his disbelief was painted on his face because Shiro leaned closer and drew him against his side. “You will, Lance. You’re strong and if you can’t be you have us here to hold you up until you feel it again.”   
  
Lance’s eyes watered and he nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He pressed closer and buried his head in Shiro’s shoulder.    
  
Alone in the cockpit of Red, he had no one to offer condolences or words of encouragement. Instead he had the readings from the Earth’s atmosphere, the dead sand and poisoned air, and a view of wastelands as far as the eye could see. His armor was off, his flight suit replaced with his casual wear, threadbare from being his only clothing for however long they’d been gone, and hands in his hair. His nails bit into his scalp. His eyes squeezed shut until color burst to life in his eyelids. He breathed in, ragged.   
  
Exhaled.   
  
Inhaled.   
  
He slammed his fist down. Screamed as he folded in on himself. His hands worked in the air trying to grab something that wasn’t there. One pressed to his mouth as he continued to scream and started to sob. Snot and tears mixed with sweat and he tried to breathe in again, but his throat was caught and his chest burned and his head spun and fuck they’d failed—they’d FAILED.    
  
Earth was dead, no Galra needed.   
  
What kind of fucking defenders of the universe let their own planet fry itself? How was it fair that they gave up everything for this stupid fucking war only to return home and find it dead? He had died for the universe! Pidge lost their family! Shiro was fucking tortured and Hunk was tossed out of safety and into the hell that was space. Even Keith had lost two years to a pocket dimension. All for the universe that wouldn’t even grant them their home.   
  
Lance screamed, Spanish and English mixing in an angry flurry. He slammed his hands into the metal rests and slammed them again. Again and again until his skin bruised and he was shaking from the exertion. He leaned forward, dropping out of the chair and to his hands and knees. His voice was raw and raspy when he tried to speak again.   
  
“This isn’t-isn’t fair.” He gasped. “Mama, Papa... Luis, Marco, and Veronica were all supposed to be here. They were supposed to... to be here.” He bit his lip and stared at the blurry outline of his hands. “Lo siento, Mama. Lo siento—“   
  
Lance laid there with his forehead to the ground until the comms penetrated his fit. He hadn’t realized he’d blocked them out until Keith was threatening to enter Red and drag Lance out for a meal. Rather than leaving, Lance lowered the ramp and sat up against the chair waiting for the inevitable confrontation. Keith was quick, entering the cockpit within minutes, frustration leaking from every jerked movement.   
  
He had no sympathy when he saw Lance collapsed against the chair on the floor. Didn’t register the vacant gaze or tear tracks. All he saw was Lance putting himself through the ringer unnecessarily time after time. It had been rough on all of them, but they didn’t disappear into themselves like Lance did. They didn’t distance themselves and force the others to watch their slow decline.   
  
They didn’t give up.   
  
“You’re missing another meal, Lance. You can’t keep going like this.” Lance looked at Keith then down to the floor as he brought his knees up. Keith was on the floor with his hands forcing Lance’s legs down and getting into his face. “No. You don’t get to hide from me. Not from any of us.”    
  
Lance grit his teeth, the emptiness that sat in his chest suddenly filled with anger.    
  
Keith grabbed his face, turning to him and locking eyes. “We’re all grieving, Lance. We’re all barely holding on, but we are holding. On. And we’re doing it together. It’s not fair for you to push us away and wallow. There isn’t time for that!”   
  
The fuse snapped.   
  
“The hell do you know about what’s fair, Keith!?” Lance bared his teeth and grabbed Keith’s wrists. “You didn’t have anyone here for you! You didn’t lose anyone.” It was a cheap shot but Lance felt for the first time in days and he wasn’t going to back down now. “You left us for the Blade of Marmora, you are not the only one allowed to drift apart.” Keith flinched at the old wound.   
  
“I was wondering when you’d throw that in my face.” Lance almost looked guilty. “I did what I had to do—“   
  
“Except you didn’t have to! The Blade didn’t need you, we did.” The fire in Lance’s eyes faded and he went slack against the chair. “Not that it matters now. While we were fighting an unwinable war, Earth was dying.” His hands clenched. “We should have been here. I should have been here.”   
  
Keith sighed and moved to sit next to Lance, staring out the screen. “What would we have done? Voltron couldn’t have protected from so many nuclear missiles coming from every direction. The end would have been the same but we’d have had to watch it all burn, safe in our lions.”   
  
“We could have saved some.” Lance’s voice was small, broken, and Keith softened. He wrapped an arm around Lance’s shoulders and Lance was struck with how alike Keith and Shiro were sometimes. “Our families.”   
  
“We don’t have the kind of power the Castle did. Our life support wouldn’t have lasted with so many extra bodies.” Pidge had found this out when they considered the possibility, the what ifs and why nots, to give them some peace of mind.   
  
“I would have given up my seat for any one of my family.”   
  
The finality was chilling if not unexpected.    
  
“And then what?” Keith posed the question with a confidence that made Lance listen. “Your family would be here without you. Voltron would be down a paladin, and we would be left high and dry with no clue how to overcome your death. It’d be meaningless.”   
  
Lance actually smiled. “With all the power in the universe, you’d think there’d be a way to time travel. Go back and, I don’t know, do something to avoid this.”   
  
Keith grimaced. “Playing with time isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Trust me.”   
  
They sat there in silence as tempers faded leaving the paladins tired and listless.    
  
Lance mimicked his position from the other night and rested his head on Keith’s shoulder. “Three years into the future. If we hadn’t been blasted forward I wonder if it would have changed anything.” Keith hummed in agreement.   
  
“Come and eat with the others.”    
  
This time Lance nodded and they both stood. Keith dropped his hand to Lance’s and Lance squeezed it as they made their way out of the Lion.   
  
Perhaps they’d never heal from this loss, tortured with the possibilities of what could have been, but they had each other and that would have to be home enough.


End file.
